Finding an Overtaken Mind
by centelleante96
Summary: My version of the sequel to The Host. Ian and Wanda take back their world from the souls.


Disclaimer: I do not own _The Host_.

This is my first story!

* * *

Finding an Overtaken Mind

Chapter 1

* * *

"_It's a strange world," I murmured, more to myself than to the native soul._

"_The strangest," he agreed…._

Wanda's POV

I let go of his hand, the vibrant moon giving just enough light to see the scintillating silver circle around his pupils.

Burns, they call him. I guess it fits. His hair is red like an autumn leaf right before the snow falls in winter. (My host should know a lot about that, living so up North and all.) I mean, they call me Wanda; short for Wanderer. It would be somewhat strange for a human to address another by their Soul's entire name.

"Stay behind me," muttered Ian, his gaze falling upon the eyes of the figure that stared at me. He pulled me, gently, closer to his Herculean body. In a way that flashed just a tad of jealousy in his eyes.

I found it constrained in a pleasurable way. It is weird how my heart fluttered at the sound of jealousy in Ian's voice. I obediently stepped closer to his strong figure.

My petite round face looked up at Ian's strong based chin. He looked down at me with a loving smile with a hint of warning, telling me, "Don't trust him just yet. Who knows what he might be hiding?" He turned to look at Jared. I thought carefully about what Ian thought was untrustworthy of Burns because he looked like a honest person to me. The fact that Ian found him shady, in a way, made me wonder too.

Jared's forehead creased, obviously showing that he was in deep concentration. Melanie's eyes met mine and then they went to Jared. I think she was as dumbfounded as I was. I mean, Nate said that Burns and he were best friends and that Burns saved his life tons of times. I wonder how that happened.

"How did you survive?" Jared asked, his suspicious gaze falling upon Nate, the leader of the newly found "colony". "I mean, where did you stay and how did you surv—"

"We shouldn't stay here any longer, it's too risky," Nate cut in quickly, turning his head both ways quickly to see if we had any other unexpected visitors tonight. "Who knows who else saw us out here this late? I don't think many Souls go out on midnight strolls. The civilization," he continued sarcastically, "might get suspicious. I mean, we look sort of weird out here in a field like this." He looked up at the lowering moon and the slightly rising sun, "Meet us here tomorrow…?"

Nate looked at me, then at Ian, and asked curiously but in an accusing way, "You two. Are you, um, _together?_" He looked as us closely and Ian stepped in front of me even more, like a child made of glass, so fragile I could break if you set a finger on me. He had a pained expression on his face, like he wanted no _stranger_ near me.

Jared eyed him closely with a wry grimace, and said, "Now you'll find out tomorrow," He smiled slightly.

"Funny how time flies," said Nate to his so-called best friend Burns. He said it loud enough so we could hear, too.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

"Yeah, funny," muttered Jared under his breath. Jared walked over no-man's-land and shook Nate's hand again. "Nice meeting you," he said flatly.

At that moment, I knew we would definitely be coming here tomorrow.

I noticed we were running really late, and everyone must have been worried sick over us. After getting the healing supplies we needed—the Awaken, Heal, Smooth, Clean, No Pain, and Cool—we all stuffed into the crowded Jeep and started heading home. Or at least what we considered home, the caves.

All of us—Aaron, Brandt, Jared, Melanie, Ian and myself—were probably thinking differently about what had just happened. I found myself to be somewhat excited after all of that, for we had an excellent story to tell Doc. I bet even Kyle is going to be impressed of our other-worldly experience.

"Hey, Wanda, are you ok?" Ian asked me in a concerned voice, but also in a voice that had my delicate body melting like ice cream on a summer day.

He slid over to me from his seat in the Jeep, his hand grasping mine gently. He rested his square chin on my golden brown hair, which he likes to do often, considering Pet's body (or my body?) is smaller than Melanie's was. My small and overexcited emotions couldn't take it. The way his warm touch sent my heart into overdrive, beating at 150 miles per hour, he loves when I blush.

He laughed quietly, of course, he found it amusing how this small body can be so jumpy at times. He stroked my hair twice and smiled at me.

"Yeah, I'm ok," I said, looking up to him with innocent gray eyes.

"You look like an angel when you do that, all you need is for someone to come bringing you your halo," Ian told me dearly. He pulled my chin up gently and our faces were mere inches apart. I looked into his caring eyes as he pulled me closer to his lips…

"I wish we could have SOME action around here!" yelled out Aaron in a deep, demanding voice. He scared me with his loud voice. Ian let go of me right then. "The only action all night has been Ian and Wanda getting fresh."

"Really, we don't get to do nothing around here," said Brandt in a whiny voice, obviously agreeing with his annoyed friend. "It gets so boring just waiting outside for Wanda to get back with the supplies."

"Be glad we even brought you," bellowed Jared, "you two gossip like old ladies and cry like three year olds." He turned back to the steering wheel, grinning in satisfaction.

Immediately, the two started to imitate baby-ish crying, loudly and annoyingly. They flailed their arms like two childish babies. Aaron flicked Brandt and the two fought angrily.

"All right you two, break it up, or else were gonna get caught here," warned Melanie sternly. She sighed and then looked at Jared with an exhausted expression on her face. "Should we trust them right away? They could be dangerous, but at the same time, we've never seen another group of the surviving humans. This could be our chance to finally gain more allies."

"Haven't your parents ever told you? Don't trust strangers," said Jared flatly. His knuckles stiffened on the steering wheel. I'm guessing that he still didn't trust the "colony" we found today.

Melanie looked at him, looking almost hurt at the words. I felt the need to go give her a hug and to comfort her. Suddenly, her face changed, and she smiled in a demonizing way at him, almost like she wanted to start a fight. I knew she didn't, as she loved Jared more than anything except for Jamie.

"I trusted _you_, didn't I?" Melanie shot back at him. She looked out the window defiantly. She had won the war and seemed happy about this.

"Yeah…you did, and I'm glad you did," he said warmly to her, his eyes meeting hers while he stroked her cheek softly.

We started nearing the edge of the entrance to the cave and the excitement made me jittery. I wanted to see Jamie and tell him the story of our newly-found-but-not-yet-trusted-friends. It seemed like a great story to tell, but since we were running late, we probably won't get to tell it today.

Aaron and Brandt started unloading the medicine, food, and other essentials from the back of the Jeep. Jared and Ian went to help, too. Melanie stood lookout in case someone had figured out our hiding spot. I tried to be of use to the guys and carried a box of food. Heading down the cave entrance, I lost my balance on a pebble tumbled down clumsily. Luckily, Ian was right behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me up along with the food. Ian set me down on my feet and kept walking carrying my trial-and-error box along with his. He smiled and said, "Be careful, we don't need someone in the hospital wing tonight." Ian laughed his deep laugh and kept moving with the boxes of food in his arms. After beginning my tenth life, I wasn't one of the strongest people here anymore.

He led me down carefully, trying to avoid another accident. I walked next to him and went inside. Along came my "welcoming committee" and they greeted me with hugs and kisses. Freedom clung to my leg as I stepped inside. Isaiah came to hold my hand. Isaiah loved to be around me because he thought I looked like an angel. Both Ian and Jamie agreed to his observation. He asked me in his cute voice, "Why didn't you get here sooner, Wanda? I missed you."

I found it adorable how the kids came to me like I was a toy and clung to me like a jungle gym. They told me they had gotten scared since we got home a little later than usual. I told them if it's that late, they should be in bed by now. "Hurry up and get to bed before Jeb gets you for it," I warned them in a slightly mocking tone.

"What took you guys so long?" whined Jamie. He always worried when we were home late, even if it was only a couple of minutes. "Did you guys get lost or something? I was _really_ worried about you and Mel! I thought you had gotten caught or something!" He kept talking on and on and I told him that everything was fine, that we were back and not to worry. He seemed content.

Jeb seemed sort of angry in a reassuring way. "What happened to you six?! I say we need some medicine and you leave on a road trip!" he said in a mocking tone.

"We need to tell you something, Jeb," Ian and Jared said at the same time. They looked at each other and I wondered if they had planned to say it simultaneously.

Jared offered the information everyone was afraid to admit. "We found other humans today, other survivors of the Soul invasion."

"There are others still alive?!" asked Jeb in a demanding but curious tone. "Tell me everything, how many of them, how did _they_ survive, I want to know every single detail."

Around us, Kyle, Sonny, Doc, Lily, Paige, and Jamie stared with open mouths and shocked expressions. Jamie was the first to recover. "Wow, another tribe of people?! That is so cool! Were they as surprised to see you as you were them? Were they nice? Are they friendly? What are their names? Wha—" asked Jamie consistently.

"Come on, one question at a time," Jeb cut in quickly, stopping Jamie from almost having a heart attack from all the excitement.

"Haha, sadly, no," Jared explained, "They were waiting for us at the Jeep after we had finished getting the food, scaring half of us to a seizure. At first, we thought they were Seekers." I shivered at the word It still gave me bad thoughts to think about them. I couldn't imagine life without Ian, Mel, Jamie or Jared, really. I couldn't live without the rest of my new family here either.

"It's really late now and I'm tired." Jeb yawned. "The rest of the questions could be answered tomorrow," He said sternly, "We need to get some rest tonight. Good night Wanda, Ian, Mel, Jared, the rest of ya'll." He walked slowly and sleepily to the sleeping quarters, rounded the third passageway from the left, and was gone.

"Jeb's right," Ian said to me, pulling me gently along by the wrist, with the softest touch I've ever seen a human use. He looked back at me and smiled warmly, his smile suggesting that he is content. Melanie and Jared held each others hand and strolled along after us. Paige walked off along with us, Andy right by her side smiling in a tired fashion.

Ian and I passed Mel's and Jared's room and walked to our room.

"Did you have fun today, Hun?" Ian asked me in a sweet tone.

"Yeah, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything," he said in a curious tone.

There was a long pause and I sighed. He looked at me strangely. Obviously confusion was stirring up in his mind.

"Why were you jealous of that Burns guy?" I asked, lowering my head to look at the floor. I wasn't even sure that it was jealousy and here I was accusing him of it? I wish I could have taken the whole thing back. I mean, I'm pretty sure it was jealousy, but it flashed through his perfect, un-phased face so quickly that I couldn't tell.

"I admit, I was jealous of him. He, you, um.." he kept stuttering like that for another five seconds and then started talking again. "Let me try this again, he and you have a lot in common—if you know what I mean—and I thought…" There was a long pause in which I guessed he was thinking of what to say. "I thought you'd fall in love with him…"

I looked up quickly, surprised of what the truth revealed. "Ian, you know I love you and only you, always and forever," I said to him. I meant it with all of my being.

He came behind me and hugged me from my waist. I blushed and remembered why I love this planet so much, all the emotions worth feeling. I looked up to him to see a smile flashing back to me. He lifted my chin and pulled me as close as possible to him…I sighed and my breath coming out in short fluttery motions. He laughed softly and kissed my forehead. It lasted five whole seconds before he pulled away and even then, our faces were still mere inches apart. He let me go and pulled me by my hand gently onto the mattress. I laid down onto the soft sheets and he sat down right next to me.

"Sweet dreams, love," he said in a dreamy voice, tightly wrapping his arms around my waist into a warm embrace, falling into deep slumber.

"Good night, Ian," I said, smiling at our close proximity.

I looked at his face, so peaceful in the darkness of the night, and fell into a dream full of running.

* * *

R&R!


End file.
